VACATION (John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein) 99 minutes. Rating: NNN
Where to watch: iTunes
In the 2015 edition of Vacation, the adult Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) takes his wife (Christina Applegate) and two sons (Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins) on a road trip to Walley World, just as his father Clark did back in 1983 – faring about as well, all things considered.
Writers/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein – who wrote The Incredible Burt Wonderstone – do right by the property, hitting the expected mixture of vulgarity and absurdity while managing to give all four Griswolds clear desires and motivations. Helms is great, but he’s not the whole show: Applegate has some good moments too, and Chris Hemsworth makes a meal of his cameo as Rusty’s alpha-male brother-in-law.
The journey’s perhaps more entertaining than the destination, as John Candy’s absence leaves a gaping hole in Walley World that the remakers haven’t even tried to paper over. But this is still the best Vacation movie since the first one.
